4 ms·

Think of it this way. If an SUV drives into your building you can sue and make some money. But if some really rich person crashes their flying gizmo into your b

Think of it this way. If an SUV drives into your building you can sue and make some money. But if some really rich person crashes their flying gizmo into your building you can sue and make a lot of money!

SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
So, are you saying that you think that the worst that happens in car crashes is "someone could sue"? please don't waste our time.
woodruffw 4y ago
I can't sue if I've been incinerated by an uncontrolled lithium battery fire.
- voldacar 4y ago
  Neither could you sue if you had been struck and killed by an SUV. The end state of your reasoning is that nobody can ever do anything that involves risk because someone might die and be unable to sue. Sounds like an awful world
  - woodruffw 4y ago
    Emphasis on "killed." I don't want to be struck by an SUV, but one hitting my apartment at ordinary NYC residential street speeds (at least, pre-COVID) is less likely to kill me than a plane crash. Risk is a community exercise. You don't (or rather, shouldn't) get to externalize disproportionate risks upon the commons because it makes your life easier. (An example of such a consideration: what happens when the fire department shows up? They know how to deal with a car accident; are they going to have the presence of mind not to douse a vehicle that looks like a normal personal aircraft in water?)
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - prvit 4y ago
      >but one hitting my apartment at ordinary NYC residential street speeds Why ordinary speeds? Someone driving into a building is likely to be going significantly faster, perhaps because they confused the brake pedal and accelerator. Things like this happen all the time https://twitter.com/TempePolice/status/1529914550266368000 https://twitter.com/TempePolice/status/1529914550266368000
      - Deritio 4y ago
        You have only that much of momentum from ground in comparison to something already in the air and just falling down. We currently have a billion cars on the road. Of course we have plenty of accidents. But that's not a valid comparison. And perhaps we should also get rid of carsnow your argument is totally invalid
- hef19898 4y ago
  With more and more SUVs and truck beimg EVs that doesn't change much. Well, eVTOLs will burn longer, not that it matters because a large SUV will burn long enough to not matter to you. And I'd bet a lot more on the crash safety of aerospace cerrified batteries than those of the automotive sector.
  - teachrdan 4y ago
    > And I'd bet a lot more on the crash safety of aerospace cerrified batteries than those of the automotive sector. Why? Aircraft are optimized for weight far more than automobiles. Making airplane batteries safer than car batteries would make them even less energy dense than they already are. Add to that fact that cars have a crumple zone built into them, while an airplane AFAIK does not -- at least not one that matters when it crashes into my house at 100mph. Furthermore, some Tesla crashing on the freeway on the way to Tahoe is unlikely to start a forest fire. But what about some rich yahoo making the same trip while flying their personal electric plane who crashes in the Oakland hills? These problems are non trivial particularly because every personal electric plane company wants to scale into the millions.

SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago

So, are you saying that you think that the worst that happens in car crashes is "someone could sue"? please don't waste our time.

woodruffw 4y ago

I can't sue if I've been incinerated by an uncontrolled lithium battery fire.

voldacar 4y ago
Neither could you sue if you had been struck and killed by an SUV. The end state of your reasoning is that nobody can ever do anything that involves risk because someone might die and be unable to sue. Sounds like an awful world
- woodruffw 4y ago
  Emphasis on "killed." I don't want to be struck by an SUV, but one hitting my apartment at ordinary NYC residential street speeds (at least, pre-COVID) is less likely to kill me than a plane crash. Risk is a community exercise. You don't (or rather, shouldn't) get to externalize disproportionate risks upon the commons because it makes your life easier. (An example of such a consideration: what happens when the fire department shows up? They know how to deal with a car accident; are they going to have the presence of mind not to douse a vehicle that looks like a normal personal aircraft in water?)
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - prvit 4y ago
    >but one hitting my apartment at ordinary NYC residential street speeds Why ordinary speeds? Someone driving into a building is likely to be going significantly faster, perhaps because they confused the brake pedal and accelerator. Things like this happen all the time https://twitter.com/TempePolice/status/1529914550266368000 https://twitter.com/TempePolice/status/1529914550266368000
    - Deritio 4y ago
      You have only that much of momentum from ground in comparison to something already in the air and just falling down. We currently have a billion cars on the road. Of course we have plenty of accidents. But that's not a valid comparison. And perhaps we should also get rid of carsnow your argument is totally invalid
hef19898 4y ago
With more and more SUVs and truck beimg EVs that doesn't change much. Well, eVTOLs will burn longer, not that it matters because a large SUV will burn long enough to not matter to you. And I'd bet a lot more on the crash safety of aerospace cerrified batteries than those of the automotive sector.
- teachrdan 4y ago
  > And I'd bet a lot more on the crash safety of aerospace cerrified batteries than those of the automotive sector. Why? Aircraft are optimized for weight far more than automobiles. Making airplane batteries safer than car batteries would make them even less energy dense than they already are. Add to that fact that cars have a crumple zone built into them, while an airplane AFAIK does not -- at least not one that matters when it crashes into my house at 100mph. Furthermore, some Tesla crashing on the freeway on the way to Tahoe is unlikely to start a forest fire. But what about some rich yahoo making the same trip while flying their personal electric plane who crashes in the Oakland hills? These problems are non trivial particularly because every personal electric plane company wants to scale into the millions.